★★★★★
The holy grail...
So this is a capture set of the mighty VOX AC30, one of the worlds most famous guitar amplifiers, and one of the first amps that would get a place if the rock'n'roll hall of fame had a departement for guitar amps.
And the one that is captured here is even a 1964 copper panel head - the holiest of grails for many guitarists.
So how does the capture set compare to a real AC30? I haven't got one here. But I actually have played a Ceriatone DC30 for many years, and that's quite comparable, as it's a clone of the Matchless DC30, wich again is based on the AC30 and AC15. Also, once I borrowed a 60's AC30 from a friend, and that's when I got hooked on the VOX sound. Had it for a while, and was heartbroken when I delivered it back...
I find this set to sound exactly as I would expect (and my expectations are high, having tried many of Amalgams free offerings, plus owning a few of the full packs.). It's all there, to my ears: The gorgeous cleans, the chime, the jangle, the rich overdrive. And man, how I have missed those tones when recording guitar at home: Every time I tried a vox emulation, they failed to get the vibe, especially when going into the more driven tones, it just got harsh very quick. But no more of that!
I have claimed in other reviews, that NAM captures sound way better than coded vst amps. And that is especially true here. These captures gets it right, and that is through all the range of gain and EQ settings. With both core and extended sets, there are a lot of EQ options from the top boost channel. You also get a few captures from the normal channel across the same gain range, and some captures driven with pedals for even more overdrive and lead tones.
I have played this with various VOX cabs in Two-Notes Wall of Sound, and they all work very well. I have not tested that many pedal captures with it yet. Vox amps are known to be a bit difficult to use with pedals, and this might be true for these captures too, but I did try captures of a distortion+, Benson preamp, and a bluesbreaker, and that worked well. I suspect that pedals with a pronounced mid hump, like tube screamers, may not be the best choice for the VOX, and fuzz likewise. But these set have enough tones by themselves, so that won't be a problem.
Now there are a few free VOX captures on Tonehunt, and some of them are quite good. I took a track in a mix I was working on, wich had an AC15 capture on it, copied it, and put this AC30 on the copy, both running into the same WoS cab. When i heard these tracks in solo, they were quite similar. But the way the AC30 just sat better in the mix compared to the first track was a very clear. Of course, Amalgams AC30 is a vintage 60's VOX, and the AC15 was a mass produced Chineese variant, so that explains some of it. But I also strongly believe that the extreme quality of Amalgam Audio's captures is a big factor.
So, the conclusion: If a vox anp would be for you, you won't regret getting these capture sets!